Having adequate lighting on your landscape is essential to keep your house safe during the night. There's also an appeal to installing lighting on your trees--especially arborvitae--aside from function.
Lights can make your landscape look more luxurious and elegant. It doesn't have to be expensive--it all depends on how you position the lighting and the vibe they give off.
Exterior lighting generally discourages intruders from breaking and entering your property. The light will expose them easily, and if they still decide to enter, your outdoor cameras will capture them better because of the light.
If you have a pool or a small pond near your home, lighting is imperative. Anyone could fall into the water, so it's best to keep the area visible to avoid accidents. You can use the arborvitae trees to soften the lighting while keeping your home relatively accident-free at the same time.
Aside from obvious functionality, take advantage of the opportunity of using landscape lighting to emphasize the most beautiful parts of your property to add visual appeal.
Since landscape lighting has a lot of advantages, installing them can increase property value by 20%. This can be beneficial if ever you're planning to resell the house or have it rented.
If you're lost about how to decorate your landscape and arborvitaes with warm lights, you can get inspiration from the ideas we have gathered for you. Keep reading below to learn more.
1. Light Up The Pathway
Arborvitae hedges are sometimes placed near a walkway. If your trees are perched right beside the path, use warm lighting to light up both the pathway and the trees.
This will emphasize the foliage better, and it will make your steps more visible if you walk through the walkway.
This is especially ideal if your walkway is made with elegant stones--it will make your landscape look more luxurious and add value to your home.
Read: "Where To Place Spotlights In Yard."
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2. Place Lights Apart From Trees
If you have a spacious garden, you may want to utilize all kinds of lighting to have a wider scope on your property. Of course, it is best to do this when the light itself is big enough to have a wider coverage. You can use either globed lights or ones that shoot light from all directions.
Placing a slight distance from the tree is also important if you surround your tree with mulch. This will ensure that the mulch won't dirty or damage the light.
3. Lights Across The Pathway
If you don't want a sharp emphasis on the tree, you can place the lighting across from the tree, perched along the pathway. Make sure to place the light so that it illuminates both the path and the tree, although softly.
This will not only make the tree more visible, but it will also make the path safer. It is best to install as many lights as possible along the pathway, preferably one light for each step to make the look cohesive.
4. Whimsical Fairy Lights On The Foliage
If you want a more unpredictable but still functional approach, install the lights directly on the foliage. This will give off a magical look, and effectively illuminate the arborvitae's attractive features. You can do this for every tree to give the landscape a more romantic vibe.
This lighting technique is more to satisfy aesthetic appeal than functional purposes, but it can still illuminate the entire landscape effectively if the light is bright enough.
The decorative lighting can make your landscape have a year-round appeal, and they can also have seasonal appeal when the holidays roll around. The lighting technique is effortlessly elegant and chic, so your landscape can always look attractive.
5. Highlight With Upturned Lights
Upturned lighting is one of the most popular and efficient lighting solutions for landscapes, especially for large trees. This is because their height and foliage can be more emphasized, and you won't need a lot of light to have a wide coverage along the tree.
This lighting technique works best with warm light as it will soften the sharp features emphasized by upturned lighting. It will look sophisticated. You can apply this technique on arborvitaes of all sizes.
6. Install Soft White Light Around The Tree
If you are more concerned about function than aesthetics, soft white light can do the trick. It will give off a look as if the arborvitae trees are being bathed in moonlight, giving it a soft, tranquil appeal.
For this light color, it may be more appropriate to apply the moonlighting technique. Since the color resembles moonlight, it is only apt to place the light above so the appeal of the landscape can look more natural and genuine.
Moonlighting can give your landscape a subtly romantic look, compared to warm orange lighting which has a louder and more vibrant look.
Soft white lighting also has better visibility compared to warm yellow lights, so your landscape can be safer from intruders every night.
7. Horizontal Lighting
If you have enough space and you have arborvitae trees lining a pathway from both sides, you can apply lighting on both sides as well. Utilize the lighting well by illuminating both the trees and the pathway by placing the lights horizontally so that they light up the path.
This will be safer for cars to pass through since they can slow down if they see road imperfections, and it will be safer to walk in during the night. It's more comfortable to traverse along a pathway lined with lights, and it's less intimidating to walk through the trees if you can see them!
8. Standing Lights Between Trees
Installing standing lights between the arborvitae and other plants will make your garden look magical. The lights will look like permanent fireflies in your garden, and they will effectively illuminate your landscape.
Make sure that the lights are bright enough to have wide coverage, especially if you have a large landscape.
9. Globes Aglow
Globed lights are an underrated landscape lighting feature, but they can make the atmosphere in your garden more romantic and chic. Circular lights also have a wide coverage that you can utilize in large garden spaces.
You can place as many globed lights as you like to fully illuminate the landscape, but it is best to combine them with other lighting techniques not only for functional purposes but also to have a more structured and artful design.
Combining globed lights with fairy lights, standing lights, or hanging lights can make your garden look more visually appealing.
Check out these globe lights on Amazon
10. Lights High And Low
If you want to fully illuminate the tree, you can install lights both above and below the tree so all the features are emphasized. Make sure to place the lights strategically so that the silhouettes will still be outlined properly and not get lost in one another.
For instance, you can hang a soft white light on another high tree on one side of the garden, and at the same time install upturned lighting under your arborvitae trees.
That way, the trees can look as if they are bathed with moonlight, and at the same time, the trees themselves are elegantly illuminated by warm light.
11. Light The Pool And Trees
If your arborvitae trees are placed near the pool, take the opportunity to illuminate them both. This is important not only to make the landscape look more inviting and attractive but also to make the area safer for everyone.
Read: "15 Great Solar Lighting Ideas For A Retaining Wall."
Final Thoughts
Determining the right lighting for your landscape can be challenging since there are so many options available, but you can narrow them down if you follow your personal style. However, safety and security should be your top priority, and the visual appeal will follow.
